In the art it is known to provide a frame to mount a filter media in a housing and to support the filter media. It is also known to produce a filtration device by separately producing a frame member configured to receive the media and then gluing filter media into the frame member to form the intended filter element or device product.
It is known to produce air permeable media sheets have open pores sized to capture or restrict the passage of particle or contaminants for filtering fluids or as well as using air permeable sheets to enclose hydrocarbon adsorption media having hydrocarbon adsorption properties.
Regarding hydrocarbon adsorption media and HCA traps, it is desirable to trap evaporated fuel and oil vapors within the air intake system, thereby preventing their release into the outside environment. Fuel vapors contain hydrocarbons which are known to be a significant contributing component in urban smog.
Gasoline, for example, is a highly volatile hydrocarbon fuel that includes components which transition easily from a liquid to vapor phase. Elevated temperatures such as occurring during normal internal combustion engine operation accelerate the liquid to vapor transition. The hydrocarbon vapors, unless treated or captured, may ultimately discharge into the atmosphere. It is known that hydrocarbon vapors are discharged from the engine crankcase during engine operation. When the engine is shutdown, these vapors may continue to be released from the hot engine crankcase and other components, particularly as the engine cools.
The control of hydrocarbon vapors escaping into the environment is regulated by state and federal regulations. Hydrocarbon traps for capturing hydrocarbon vapors are well known. For example, motor vehicles are commonly equipped with hydrocarbon adsorptive emissions canisters connected to the fuel tank for trapping hydrocarbon vapors, particularly as emitted during refueling.
It is known that certain porous materials such as activated carbon are useful for absorption and removal of organic hydrocarbon vapors. It is known hydrocarbon vapors are liquefied within small micro pores of the activated carbon and may be retained by absorption.
It is known in the state of the art to produce a hydrocarbon adsorption (HCA) media, such as two adjacent sheets of air permeable media between which hydrocarbon adsorptive materials are arranged. It is known to arrange such HCA media in an air intake system of an internal combustion engine where it is operable to entrap hydrocarbon vapors.
As a general introduction to the art of injection molding-injection molding is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting thermoplastic, thermosetting polymers, plastic or resin materials into a mold tool. Common polymers like epoxy and phenolic are some examples of thermosetting plastics while nylon, polyethylene, and polystyrene are examples of thermoplastic materials.
Injection molding machines generally consist of a material hopper, an injection ram or screw-type plunger, and a heating unit. Also known as presses, they hold the molds in which the final components are shaped. Presses are typically rated by tonnage, which expresses the amount of clamping force that the machine can exert. This force keeps the mold closed during the injection process, which may involve high pressures in the plastic injection process to completely fill the mold cavity.
The mold may consist of two primary mold halves, the injection mold plate and the ejector mold plate. Plastic resin may enter the mold through a sprue or gate in the injection mold; the sprue bushing is to seal tightly against the nozzle of the injection barrel of the molding machine and to guide/direct molten plastic to flow from the barrel into the mold, also known as the mold cavity. The sprue bushing directs the molten plastic to the cavity through channels that are machined into the faces of the mold plates. These channels allow plastic to run along them. The channels may also be called runners. The molten plastic flows through the runners and into the cavity geometry to form the desired part.
Typically in the state of art, the material for the part is fed into a heated barrel, mixed, and forced into a mold cavity, where it cools and hardens to the configuration of the cavity, thereby forming the desired part or component. The mold with the cavity is often shaped and designed from metal, typically either steel or aluminum, and precision-machined to form the features of the part to be molded.
The mold closes enclosing the mold cavity therein. When parts are molded, typically pelletized raw material may be fed through a hopper into a heated barrel with a reciprocating screw. The material is forced at high pressure into the part forming mold cavity. Once the material within the mold cools so that the molded part is dimensionally stable, the mold opens and the molded dimensionally stable part may be removed from the mold and the process restarted.